The religion of Islam
began, like Buddhism, with the experience of a single man, but the religious
environment of early Islam was the Judeo-Christian world of Arabia. Many of the
basic premises and beliefs of Islam are thus quite different than those of
Buddhism or Hinduism and more closely resemble the systems of Judaism or
Christianity. During the last 1,000 years, however, Islam has played a major
part in the cultures of South and Southeast Asia, including Sri Lanka. Islam in
Sri Lanka has preserved the doctrines derived from Arabia, while adapting to the
social environment of South Asia

During the early seventh
century A.D., Muhammad experienced a series of messages from God in the city of
Mecca, a trading center in western Arabia. He became a prophet, one of the line
of Biblical prophets including Abraham, Moses, and Jesus Christ (in Arabic,
Ibrahim, Musa, and Isa), and he conveyed to the people of Mecca the last and
greatest of the revelations given by God to the world. The message was simple
and powerful: "submission" (Islam) to the mercy of a single,
all-powerful God (Allah)

God exists for eternity,
but out of love he created the world and mankind, endowing both men and women
with immortal souls. Human beings have only one life, and when it ends their
souls go to either heaven or hell according to their behavior on earth. Correct
behavior is known through the revelation of prophets inspired by God, and
Muhammad is the last of these prophets. To believe in Islam, to become "one
who submits" (a Muslim), one must accept the will of the one true God and
the message of Muhammad, which is encapsulated in the shahada:
"There is no God but God, and Muhammad is His Prophet." His message is
immortalized in the Quran, a series of revelations conveyed by the angel
Gabriel, and in the hadith, the sayings and example of the prophet Muhammad

Muhammad described some
of the most important actions necessary for a believer who wished to submit to
God's love and will. In addition to commandments against lying, stealing,
killing and other crimes, the moral code includes prayer five times daily,
fasting, giving alms to the poor, pilgrimage to Mecca if financially possible,
abstention from gambling and wine, and dietary restrictions similar to those of
Judaism. The Prophet linked behavior to salvation so closely that bodies of
Islamic law (sharia) grew up in order to interpret all human activity according
to the spirit of the Quran

In practice, to be a
Muslim requires not simply a belief in God and in Muhammad's status as the final
prophet, but acceptance of the rules of Islamic law and following them in one's
own life. Islam thus encompasses a rich theology and moral system, and it also
includes a distinctive body of laws and customs that distinguish Muslims from
followers of other faiths. Islam is theoretically a democratic union of all
believers without priests, but in practice scholars (ulama) learned in
Islamic law interpret the Quran according to local conditions, legal officials (qazi)
regulate Muslim life according to Islamic law, and local prayer leaders
coordinate group recitation of prayers in mosques (masjid, or palli)

By the fifteenth century,
Arab traders dominated the trade routes through the Indian Ocean and Southeast
Asia. Some of them settled down along the coasts of India and Sri Lanka, married
local women, and spoke Arabized Tamil rather than pure Arabic. Their families
followed Islam and preserved the basic doctrines and Islamic law, while also
adopting some local social customs (such as matrilineal and matrilocal families)
that were not part of early Islamic society in the Arabian Peninsula

When the Portuguese took
control in the sixteenth century, they persecuted the Muslim traders of the
southwest coast, and many Muslims had to relocate in the Central Highlands or on
the east coast. They retained their separate religious identity, but also
adopted some aspects of popular religion. For example, pilgrimage sites, such as
Kataragama, may be the same for Muslims as for Hindus or Buddhists, although
Muslims will worship at mosques rather than reverence the Buddha or worship
Hindu gods (see Buddhism)

The growth in ethnic
consciousness during the last two centuries has affected the Muslim community of
Sri Lanka. Muslim revivalism has included an interest in the Arabic roots of the
community, increased emphasis on the study of Arabic as the basis for
understanding the Quran, and an emphasis on separate schools for Muslim
children. Whether there should be an independent Islamic law for Muslims,
preserving the distinct moral culture passed down from Muhammad, is a continuing
issue. On a number of occasions, agitation has developed over attempts by the
Sri Lankan government to regulate Muslim marriage and inheritance. In order to
prevent further alienation of the Muslim community, in the 1980s the government
handled its dealings with Muslims through a Muslim Religious and Cultural
Affairs Department